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Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Prefu; economy on track for surplus

In a far cry from the Decade of Deficits Day in 2008, the 2014 Prefu, the symbolic pre-election opening of the books, has passed with barely a ripple; Stuff reports:

The economy is growing strongly, but Treasury has cut the amount it
expects to raise in tax and with it, the size of future surpluses.
Today the Treasury released the pre-election economic and fiscal
update (Prefu), giving an update on the state of the Government's books
just a month out from the election.
Crucially, Finance Minister Bill English's long promised surplus for
2014/15 is said to be on track by Treasury, the Crown's official bean
counter. The surplus is, in fiscal terms, wafer-thin at $297 million,
down from $372m in the last forecast, and equivalent to just 0.2 per
cent of total economic output.
But the outlook for surpluses in the following years is markedly
weaker than it was in May's Budget, delivered just two months ago.
In each of the next three years Treasury has cut the projected
surplus by $500m, meaning the combined surplus between now and mid-2018
is $6 billion, some $1.5b below what it was expected to be in autumn.
The lower surplus forecasts means there is less scope for new
spending by the Government, and that Crown debt would take longer to
reduce.
Today Treasury said debt, in nominal terms, would now peak at $67.9b
in 2018. It was expected to peak at $65.5b in 2017. With debt taking
longer to fall, Treasury said, based on current settings, payments to
the NZ Superannuation Fund, put on hold when National came to office as
the recession hit, would be delayed a year to 2020/21.
Nevertheless, the economy in general is "growing strongly", Treasury Secretary Gabriel Makhlouf said.
Forecast to grow at an average of 2.8 per cent over the next four
years, Makhlouf said this was "above its sustainable long term capacity
to grow" meaning inflationary pressure on the economy is building with a
strong residential housing market in Auckland and Christchurch.

That the economy is forecast to continue to grow strongly, but not too strongly, is good news indeed. Unemployment is falling, more people are in employment than ever before in New Zealand's history, exports hit $50 billion for the first time ever, and inflation remains low. Much of that can be attributed to Bill English's "steady as she goes" management of the economy through the Global Financial Crisis and the recession which followed. And Treasury Secretary Gabriel Makhlouf sounded a warning today in releasing the Prefu:

"It underlines, among other things, the importance of fiscal restraint in a growing economy," Makhlouf said.
"Prudent careful management of the Crown's finances remains a
priority as the Crown looks to maintain annual surpluses and remain on
track to pay down debt."
English said the Government would seek to keep on top of its books in a bid to give certainty to households.
"There is no room for significant loosening of the purse strings,"
English told reporters at a press conference in the Treasury this
morning.
While National wanted to reduce taxes "when there is room to do so",
English warned that any cuts, when they came, were likely to be modest,
and flatly ruled out an announcement on a possible tax cut package
ahead of the election.
English said National maintained room to alter its spending plans,
where Labour had committed all of its spending allowances for the next
four Budgets.
"They have no more choices against what they've already committed,"
English said, adding that the spending of the Green Party was on top of
that proposed by Labour.

New Zealand's economic recovery could be killed stone dead if a big-spending, high-taxing Labour-Green-MegaMana-NZ First government is elected in just 32 days time. If ever there was a need for no change, it is right now.

Allowing the likes of Russel Norman, Metiria Turei and Hone Harawira anywhere near the Treasury Benches would be a disaster. We only have to look at Australia for an example of the damage a Labour-Green government could do; whilst New Zealand's unemployment rate is the lowest it has been for five-and-a-half years, Australia's unemployment rate is at a twelve-year high, and is still rising. Australia used to be called the Lucky Country, but New Zealand is lucky it had Mr English at the helm.Bill English has done a stellar job to turn a Decade of Deficits and the sea of red ink which was the 2008 Prefu into a surplus just six years later. For that reason alone, he deserves a third term as Minister of Finance. But more importantly, the New Zealand economy NEEDS Bill English's skills if it is to reach its potential as it recovers.

2 comments:

crap. It's easy feel like a rock stat when you borrow sixty billion dollars and snort it all up your nose (or in English's case, blow it on benefits)

If we had a responsible - or even halfway competent - finance minister we'd have borrowed nothing.

What would be responsible: simple - cut say benefits by half, public sector salaries by half (including health & education) - letting us pay back 20 Billion per year, and then be able to zero company tax and cap income tax (no tax on income over say $150,000) before the next election.

That's basic economics 101. What did English do?

He didn't even tax'n'spend (bad), or borrow'n'spend (worse) --- he borrowed and flushed it all down the crapper by giving sixty billion to bludgers.

I can understand your anger Tory, but I think you are being simplistic.

I was very keen for National to slash government spending which would have substantially reduced the amount of borrowing required (caused of course by the previous hugely tax and spend Labour government).

The problem is that if they had have done that, they would have been voted out after the first term. The average NZ voter did not seem able to comprehend just how disastrous and massively expensive was the decision to vote in the Labour government.

We would have had a Labour Green govt after their first term and then God help us.